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Dogs to attend Bethel High -- sometimes

School system adopts rule to allow canine searches as it tightens security policies

Eileen FitzGerald| on June 6, 2014

BETHEL -- Drug-sniffing dogs will begin visiting Bethel High School as soon as this month, as the district shores up its safety and security efforts.

Bethel joins the Brookfield, New Milford and Ridgefield districts in policies permitting drug-sniffers. Each of the towns has a police dog, and they are brought together for searches at neighboring schools.

"We have made an amendment to our search-and-seizure policy to allow for drug-sniffing dogs to check our school and parking lots," said Bethel Superintendent Kevin Smith, adding that the new policy is in keeping with the "all-hazards" approach to school security.

"We want to make sure we are doing all we can do to ensure the safety of our students," Smith said.

When something suspicious is found, he added, it will remain a school issue.

"If a dog picks up a scent, the police will notify the principal and the police will retreat, and then it becomes a school investigation," Smith said. "This will be a school action."

"We don't want this to be a `gotcha,' but we want people not to be bringing drugs onto the complex," Troetti said. "We put a huge effort this year on drug awareness, with a drug forum and other activities. We really want our community to come together and take a stand on what we consider to be a big challenge."

In the Bethel schools' newsletter, Smith wrote that "even though the Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, the use of drug-sniffing dogs in schools is permitted because students do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the school. Additionally, the courts have acknowledged that schools have a compelling interest in maintaining a drug-free environment."

"We have recently had reports that in a search at The Morgan School, a public high school in Clinton with a similar policy, dogs were allowed to sniff students' backpacks and pocketbooks in violation of the Fourth Amendment," she said in an email. "We're prepared to work with any students, families or teachers who experience violations of that kind."

In New Milford, the drug-sniffing dogs visited New Milford High School twice last year and once this year. Nothing was found, which department spokesman Lt. Larry Ash said is a success.

"We coordinate with the school resource officer and the principal," Ash said. "It's entirely random, and when we don't find drugs, it's a testament to the school and the students and those are great results."